Monthly Archives: June 2006

I may have blogged here that I have really funky eyesight. One eye is much more nearsighted than the other and the one that isn’t so nearsighted has much more astigmatism. Plus the less dominant eye doesn’t like to hold still, and it’s getting worse now that I am reaching “a certain age.” So I went yesterday to the opthalmologist to see what my options were about the situation. And I got my eyes dilated. The best news was that I have a couple of options, but who knows if either of them will work better than doing nothing? But no matter what I do or don’t do, since I have reached adulthood and then some, and I still have vision in both my eyes, they’ll keep right on seeing. One of them won’t shut down on me, like it could have when I was a child. I might see double, but I will see. And I got my eyes dilated.

I’ve had it done many times before, but this was a new medicine they used. That may have been the difference. I put on my sunglasses and headed out to pick up my printer from the repair shop (YAY! I didn’t have to wait till halfway through July to get it back!!!)–and a ways down the street, I realized the sun was just too bright, even with the sunglasses on. I had to keep blinking and squinting, and finally put one hand over one eye (the other one got a bit less of a dose, because one of the drops hit my eyelashes first) just to get to the repair place. I decided I’d go over to the bookstore, less than a block away, and wait till I could see again before attempting to drive home. This new medicine was supposed to take less time to wear off. Maybe I had an “ideosyncratic” reaction to it–I don’t know, but it was about 4 hours later before I could look at the DVD wrappers facing the window behind me without the reflection nearly blinding me. And the signs were still pretty blurry when I got out to drive home. I have never had that extreme a reaction to getting my eyes dilated. Guess I’d better tell the doc so we don’t use the same stuff next time…

Anyway, I wanted to finish my synopsis on the WWII book today, but I’m not exactly sure how I want the end to go, so I’m going to let it sit for a bit longer. Tomorrow for sure. Almost time to go put the beans on to cook for the Depression Dinner for the Independence Day celebration starting tomorrow. Pinto beans & cornbread for a quarter, but if you want sausage, drink, or dessert, be prepared to pony up some cash. And the ranch rodeo starts tonight. That’s always fun to watch. Later y’all.

I admit it. I have totally fallen apart in my blogging here. I have Intended to post to my blog, but you see how far my intentions have taken me. Nowhere.

And I really have no excuse. I’m not doing much of anything else either. Okay, I did finish the revisions on The Eternal Rose (and worrying whether I did them right), and I got it mailed off this week. And I’m working on a new story that has no relation whatsoever to any other story I’ve ever done before in my life, but I’ve wanted to do it since I finished my MA in history and had all this research about China…so I’ve been reading and re-reading research books after resurrecting this story idea.

Reading tends to make me put everything else on the back burner. I become Ms. Lazy. The weeds are really growing in the flowerbeds. The skirt is still less than half put together. And other things stack up too. It’s not just the research books I’m reading–and those are really fascinating to me–but I’ve read several others I enjoyed. Stayed up WAY too late reading DARK NEED by Lynn Viehl. And I reread Laura Kinsale’s SHADOWHEART because when we had our garage sale, the books got rearranged, and the box with the historicals in it came up to the top, so I was able to dig it out. It is such a good read.

Anyway, I’m trying to piece together a synopsis. I have all the scenes I know I want to include–I’m just not sure what order they need to come in. The story will be told mostly in flashback, so things will be a bit disjointed. It makes it hard to figure out a synopsis.

Oh well, time to get back on track. Only a few more weeks till the grandboys come to visit. And then it’s just a little bit of time til RWA national in Atlanta. Which means I probably ought to update and punch up that workshop I’m signed up to do there pretty soon, huh? Okay. It’s going back on my list.

Did I mention my printer’s broken? And it won’t be fixed till mid-July, even though it’s only one silly little piece that actually broke in two because the repair shop’s really busy… What is it about my stuff breaking in two this summer? First the glasses, and now the printer. I need both of them to work! Ack!

The fella has been hunting his sunglasses for more than a week. He knew he’d got home with them after the trip to the nephew’s graduation, but they vanished somewhere. He can’t just go out and grab another pair from the Outpost (the local pharmacy/five-and-dime/jewelry store/deli/gas station), because they’re prescription. We just had to keep hunting.

Today, I found them.

I was out this morning–all physical activity must be done early in the a.m. while it’s still cool enough for exertion–planting the caladiums and coleus I’d bought/rooted and preserved all winter for the shady place under the pine trees. I’ve been putting this off for a month, but couldn’t put it off any longer. The dirt was watered and as soft as it’s ever going to get. So I dug holes and planted (didn’t rub any new blisters, even though I didn’t wear my gloves again). And about three caladium pots into the job, I discovered a foreign object tangled up in the white caladium leaves. The missing sunglasses.

Apparently he’d stuck them in his shirt pocket and they fell out while he was watering the plants waiting for planting. This actually was not one of the weirder places I have found missing glasses. Just the most recent.

Oh, and I’m up to chapter seventeen in the editing. Only 13 more to go.

I want to finish the last run-through edit of The Eternal Rose this week. I’m 7 chapters in, and unfortunately stayed up WAY too late last night reading the newest Wen Spencer “Tinker” book. I think I liked this one better than the last. Spencer can come up with some really complicated plots!

Anyway, life is putting right along. I didn’t do nearly as much last week as I intended, and this week doesn’t seem to be shaping up to be a whole lot better. Reading does that to me. I read, and don’t do much else.

I did get Devil in Blue Jeans off in the mail. Now I’m working on research for Shadows of Burning which is the tentative title for the WWII historical I want to write. While also editing the last Rose book. And planting stuff that came in the mail. And… well, doing lots of stuff. This is a terrible blog post, but that late night thing–it definitely interferes with brain function. So I’m going to stop now, and go work on other stuff like putting my edits in the computer. Then I think I’ll take a nap.